Reputation

Call it brand equity, issue expertise, or reputation. It is the sum of earned and perceived credibility an organization holds around a set of issues.

Your reputation is shaped and grown by the choices you make over time. As with your bank balance, you are constantly making deposits to and withdrawals from your reputational chart of accounts. That does not mean everything your organization does needs to be highly visible or public facing. Sometimes reputation is earned quietly, behind the scenes by delivering consistently on your brand with little or no fanfare.

The ultimate goal is to make communication decisions that are clearly aligned to your mission and consistent over time. That’s how reputation is built.

For many the issue of “reputation management” comes into play when you contemplate communication tactics like writing op-eds (“How will this make us look to the informed public paying attention to our issues?”) or selecting a partner with whom to co-fund a new initiative (“Do we agree on the problem we’re trying to solve and the best pathway for accomplishing it?”).

In the same way most individuals are deliberate about what they Tweet or post on their individual Facebook page, so too should organizations be deliberate about how they shape and manage their institutional reputations. Clarity and consistency are key, and knowing when to say no plays a big role, too.

Brand

culture

Strategy

Action

by the numbers

Percentage of survey respondents who agree that when foundations communicate about an issue it helps their grantees work more boldly.Survey

49%

Percentage of survey respondents who feel that communications always or often helps to ensure that “progress made in program areas ‘sticks’ and leads to lasting change.” Survey

75%

Percentage of survey respondents who agree that “without effective communications we could not raise the support we need (such as funding, partners, and good will).”Survey

68%

Percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs who have absolutely no presence on social media.Source

tips and insights

A foundation's reputation, when leveraged effectively, can provide significant validation for the work of a grantee or partner, advancing the strategic goals and objectives of both organizations.

The ubiquity of social media significantly increases every individual’s ability to spread negative ideas or critical information about an organization. Foundations and nonprofits have to devise strategies for managing and tolerating higher levels of reputational risk.

Lobbying restrictions for social media remain largely untested. Foundations should take a consistent approach by either deleting all partisan comments, responding with a follow-up statement posted by an organizational representative, or ignore them and rely on a disclaimer posted on that social media platform. (BolderAdvocacy)Source

Voices

If we don't tell our own story, someone else will, and they will get it wrong.Communication LeaderPrivate Foundation

When our president and CEO was hired, she visited foundations of a similar asset size to find out, “If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?” The consistent message was, “Get communication right from the get-go. Tell your own story lest someone else tell it for you.”Communication LeaderPrivate Foundation

We communicate because we want to get others excited about the work we are doing. We want public sector players to take notice, and we want to be seen as thought leaders in our issue areas.Executive LeaderPrivate Foundation

our positionMore people than ever understand the value of strategic communication.

The research gathered during the Communication Matters project, and shared in
this website, reflects a broad consensus that communications must be embraced as
an integral strategy for every organization seeking to advance social change.

We now believe the main challenge underlying the lack of effective communications
at many organizations is no longer about getting the importance of communications.
The opportunity lies in doing more effective communications.

methodology

From the outset of the Communication Matters project our objective was to cast a wide net and collect as many informed opinions as possible. We achieved this goal in several ways:

Formed an advisory group of communication professionals from private foundations, community foundations and nonprofits

Put out a call through the Network for “best in class” examples

Searched and reviewed the literature

Facilitated two online forums, one with communication professionals and one with program professionals

Broadly disseminated an online survey, with special outreach to CEOs, executive directors and program leaders